Sitting in a San Francisco bistro before our flight home, we had a chance to listen to Golden State Warriors fans celebrate. We also heard more about California’s water conservation resources – a possible catastrophe in the making.

At seven stories tall and 247,000 square feet, the Science Education and Research Center at Temple University in Philadelphia is one of the largest buildings devoted exclusively to scientific research in the city’s region.

For many colleges and universities, there used to be gold in garbage. Or, at least, there was some revenue to go along with the recycling stream. But two years ago, the whole landfill landscape changed.

Conservation on campus is about saving money and electricity at a time of lagging state funding and soaring global demand for power. Worldwide energy use is slated to jump 56 percent by 2040, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.